Friday, 3 August 2012

Bento Boxes from Japan

Since about "bento" has become the topic of comments, I would like to present two photo for Veg's blogs readers.
Bento is being used in various situations in Japan from former times. For trip, picnic, of course for school lunch, and also Hanami(cherry blossom viewing), Sumo viewing(Sumo is the traditional Japanese wrestling), and Kabuki theatergoing(Kabuki is a traditional theatrical drama).

One photo is the most traditional old style bento-box which was made of gold lacker in 18th century. This contains four lunch boxes, a equipment box and two bottles for Sake(rice wine).

Another one is a bento for Hanami. This cuisine style is carried out today in Japan.

Here in Germany we got a sying - "Das Auge ißt mit" (which translates to "the eye eats too" - and the second picture shows why that is absolutely true. Lots of nice looking food, nicely arranged. Makes You want to find out if it all tastes as great as it looks..

I'm really fascinated by the whole concept of Bento. It's so unlike anything that we do in the West. I'm especially interested in the way that mothers make them for their children to take to school since it's such a time consuming and personal thing. From what I've been reading online about this there's a belief in the investment of love and care in creating the food for a loved one. I think that's incredibly special but perhaps difficult to achieve for busy people. It should be promoted in the UK and the USA though as I think it could really combat the problem of kids just grabbing a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps for their meal instead of eating properly prepared food. The boxes look beautiful as well, certainly beats eating lunch out of a brown bag or a plastic tub!

I've been reading your blog with my daughters (ages 6 and 8) here in America. I saw this amazing infographic today comparing the meals that prisoners in jail eat versus the meals that kids in American schools eat. I immediately thought of you and wanted to share it:

http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1105/lunch/flat.html

We only allow our girls to buy lunch twice a week at school because we pack healthier lunches from home. Also, the system in our school doesn't allow us to track or know what our kids eat (other than asking them!) so it's hard to know if they are really making good choices.

I hope that the infographic is something you want to blog about -- it could lead to some fascinating discussions. I wonder how that compares to other countries around the world?